Problems At The Polls In Shelby County

Some voters in Bartlett and Collierville showed up at the polls on Monday to vote in municipal schools referendums and received an unpleasant surprise: questions about forming a municipal school district did not appear on their electronic ballots.

The Shelby County Election Commission was able to straighten that problem out for angry voters.

“But any time that you have a problem,” said Senior Reporter for the Memphis Daily News Bill Dries, “the question is always how many people had this problem, but maybe didn’t notice, or just walked away.”

A voter in Memphis experienced a different problem Tuesday. Blogger David Holt arrived at the polls to find he was listed as a resident of state House District 98. He is, in fact, a resident of state House District 93. That district was impacted by redistricting this year, but Holt’s house was not among those that switched. Holt lives near the center of his district.

“The changes were more around the edges,” Dries said.

Hundreds of voters who showed up to polls in Shelby County on Election Day August 5, 2010 were told by poll workers that they had already voted during early voting. They hadn’t. The Shelby County Election Commission later said the glitch occurred because an employ made an incorrect entry in a computer.

“We don’t use paper ballots anymore,” Dries said. “We use computers now and people who used to be able to get the job done by knowing a basic process, now they are dealing with software.”

If you have a problem at the polls, notify the nearest poll worker immediately. Do not vote if there is something wrong with your ballot.